The Mob-mad People

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 15, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 42.

The Mob-mad People.

It is a gruesome picture which the papers give, of the public burning of a wretched negro criminal in Mississippi the other day. The execution was delayed by the mob, the railway company ran extra trains, special places were set apart for the women, and 5,000 it is said witnessed the awful spectacle. The multiple murderer may have deserved it; God knows. But the awful, ominous thing is that Christian men and women, professedly, can give countenance to such a spectacle, can shout, “Burn him,” with gleeful, demoniac frenzy, can witness with satisfaction and cheers the lighting of the fagots! Fathers, mothers, O, it augurs a woeful day to the nation! With present sentiment could not every citizen plainly leave it to the courts to settle? And with a knowledge of God, could not Christians leave the degrees of punishment with Him? When innocent men are believed to be guilty, they can expect no less from such a mob, whether in the North or South.